Learning innovation from a chef

Ferran Adrià, world-famous chef, points his finger at the sky and holds it at shoulder height for a moment to emphasise his point. "Who says you can't mix sardines and white chocolate?" he asks. His eyes are opened wide, his black eyebrows are raised high and his face is set in a look that demands to know: "Are you following me?"

He is standing in front of a white polystyrene board a couple of metres high, which has 12 pieces of paper covered in data pinned to it. Around him there are half a dozen web developers and user-interface designers who have gathered in his taller, or workshop, to discuss the construction of La Bullipedia, Adrià's vision for an online database that will contain every piece of gastronomic knowledge ever gathered.